Cracking the AUBG code: In the air tonight

Column
Silviya Krasteva
February 14, 2009

(With the help of Mr. Burt Saxby)

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Come get drunk at the SG party
And I will show you my colors too...

Freshman year. My first SG party ever. A guy approached me and asked me whether I wanted him to get me a drink from the bar. Now I know what you think, I probably giggled, asked him whether he wanted me to get him a drink from the bar, and that it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship... - but no. I did giggle though, but only because the drinks were for free.

If you think that "there is no such thing as a free lunch," well, you are... most probably right, as the "free" drinks at SG parties are covered from your very own money. So now when I look back at that moment, I understand the irony of it.
The SG usually hosts at least a couple of parties per year. That's significantly enough for someone at a recent All Student Assembly to say he associates the SG with parties. However, the much anticipated party has been "saved" for the second semester, to the great disappointment of very many thirsty AUBGers.

Here comes my favorite part: the SG budgetary guidelines state specifically that no money shall be allocated to anyone for drinks and "refreshments." Moreover, AUBG policy states that no alcohol shall be paid for, under any circumstances, with university money. And yet, the brave SG senators seem to always find a way around all these rules just to bring you a slice of hard-earned FREE alcohol fun. Paid for with your money.

So what does an SG party offer, besides the joy of someone else "buying" you drinks?
SG parties are real and full-fledged social events, during which you get to meet people you have never seen before in your life, on campus or out. To a senior second semester it means those people had a damn good reason to have hidden very, very well throughout the four years. Reasons vary from them not enjoying the luxurious suites of Skaptopara, to simply being too cool for school. Either that, or they are allergic to daylight. Seriously now, kudos to the Student Government for getting that part of the student body out of their holes.

The SG also manages to gather all the wannabe Casanovas in the same place at the same time. Yey! Attention now: depending on what time you go to the SG party (and your blood alcohol level) this can turn out to be either an extremely amusing, or a slightly disturbing experience.

Nevertheless, I think we must go to SG parties, all of us, get our paid free drinks, and even get free drinks for our friends and objects of affection. Since we really have no choice, we better go and drink our worth, and maybe some more.

Happy St Valentine's Day,

S.

Comments

Get 'em, Sue!

I like any piece of writing that bashes the SG :) And when Sue does it, she does it with style.
Submitted by Anonymous on March 5, 2009 - 12:37.

Silviya

Dear all,

Thank you for the comments, they really make me feel like I’m doing a good job, since I am making people actually respond to my column. Though anonymously.

“Hun,” I appreciate what you may pass as constructive criticism (depending on the POV, of course). However, the vehicle you chose for expressing your opinion is just slightly disturbing, since you sound very angry with my opinion. I would gladly meet up with you and discuss the issue in person.

Clarification: I don’t have a biweekly OP in the paper. I have a biweekly column. Thus, I would use the most beloved source of research for all AUBGers – Wikipedia. “A column is a recurring piece or article in a newspaper, magazine or other publication. Columns are written by columnists. What differentiates a column from other forms of journalism is that it meets each of the following criteria: • It is a regular feature in a publication • It is personality-driven by the author • It explicitly contains an opinion or point of view” Therefore, if you would like to write a news report/OP on the topic, I believe we would publish it. With the appropriate byline.

Yours,

Happy Little Silviya

Submitted by Anonymous on February 25, 2009 - 20:18.

Roses are red,

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Silviya should stop

Writing. Poems too.

[Text deleted by administrator.]

Now to the great debater: I tip my hat. Let me analyze. The two main arguments, if I got all that crucial information correctly, are that one, the SG is not allowed to spend money on alcohol and two, that the money comes from us, the students. The latter is actually stated three times for all those AUBGers who cannot remember all this excruciatingly original information in this long article (info that at one point or another has been on everybody's mind since the dawn of SG parties) and who need to be reminded of this same argument over and over again - we have paid for those drinks; Silviya, I got it the first time, now you get over it and stop repeating one and the same thing! The problem is, hun, that's not the most important thing when it comes to money spent on booze by the SG. What does it mean to the community is part of it. But how much exactly? Figures? Research! You haven't done your homework, it seems, and it shows. How much money per year? This year? Last year? The past four years? Is it true that there's just one party this year because they spent too much money funding clubs or because they have a smaller budget? What is the reason, really? If they spent more on clubs, then how many more clubs do we have? Do we really need them? How many people join them? Is AUBG turning into a place where everybody is a president of a club? Tell us how many have actually been funded and how much money does the SG spend on funding. Why not juxtapose this with the money spent on bacchanalia? Think of how many contests, how many ways to stimulate thought and progress. I do not mean this year, but the ones gone by, the years of four SG parties... Then again, why not a donation to the orphanage? Think of the immensity of it: a $6000 donation instead of four nights of brain cells slaughter (well, not any more, eh?)... But no, little happy Silviya is stuck with the fact that we pay for the free drinks. Big fokin deal!

The problem is that even here, Silvia, you're missing the point. Because how much money does it cost you personally, really? If we split the $1500 by, say, 1300 (+/-100) AUBGers, that makes a dollar and a few cents per capita, right? See, your argument is superficial. To be honest, I actually get the most of that dollar and a few cents if do I go to an SG party because, should I want, I could drink a bottle of vodka, a case of beer and a few liters of juice for that money, the thirsty AUBGer that I am. Beat that!

You're missing the point by miles, girl, and it's sad, because it's an important enough issue and you make it sound like a joke. You pepper it up with blatant jokes and attempts at being original and funny to make up for the lack of research and analysis, so the overall effect is of a badly written opinion-piece with no substantial thought put into it. True, in the OP you put your own POV, but that has to be patched up with facts and I don't see any, save for the little trite part about regulations that you copy/pasted from wherever.

Happy St Valentine's Day to you too. Do write about it!

P.S. It's Bert, not Burt, but then again, who cares?...

Submitted by Anonymous on February 24, 2009 - 17:38.

jee

My, was that harsh or what? Silvia, I hope you are not offended by such stuff. Take the critique and screw the malice, take the positive - there's always something positive. And yet, I do agree that there is a lot more to the issue, that the money could indeed be spent on something constructvie. I'd be really happy to see something about it on the pages of defacto. Derzai Tsetsi
Submitted by Anonymous on February 26, 2009 - 13:44.

Really.

If you want to be taken seriously and your voice to be heard, then don't do it in a way that forces the administrator to erase god-knows-what-crap from your comment. You are actually making me angry and making me waste my time. You could be initiating a serious argument, and instead you just want readers to pay attention to you because you maybe have no other way of being appreciated. If I knew who you were, I'd actually pull your ears like a mother does to a spoiled child. Get a grip, really. The media at AUBG take their job seriously. We are not infallible. And we do accept criticism because we know we're learning. But you're not criticizing. You're just pointing your dirty finger, while hiding behind the anonymity of a webpage comment. Pity. d.
Submitted by Anonymous on February 25, 2009 - 20:04.

Donika.

Dear disturbingly Anonymous person... oh, forget it. I have better things to do now. (But please, get a job, or a life, or a wife, or just, you know... a girl/guy with a bag on the head (and a second in case the first one falls off), whatever you need in order to stop the verbal diarrhea. It really smells... even if you had an actual point, you've just messed it all up with a stupid I'm-striving-for-attention-and-I'll-tell-you-how-much-greater-I-am attitude. Grow up. Trust me, it's really not that scary.) d.
Submitted by Anonymous on February 25, 2009 - 19:48.

Socraticus

"But how much exactly? Figures? Research! You haven't done your homework, it seems, and it shows. How much money per year? This year? Last year? The past four years? Is it true that there's just one party this year because they spent too much money funding clubs or because they have a smaller budget? What is the reason, really? If they spent more on clubs, then how many more clubs do we have? Do we really need them? How many people join them? Is AUBG turning into a place where everybody is a president of a club? Tell us how many have actually been funded and how much money does the SG spend on funding. Why not juxtapose this with the money spent on bacchanalia?" Aide be, answer....
Submitted by Anonymous on February 25, 2009 - 15:14.

Rositicus

Who do YOU think you are? Silviya managed to get her story ON defacto, and you wrote another one that barely made it for a footnote.... Talking like an SG PR does not really help...
Submitted by Anonymous on February 25, 2009 - 15:07.

free as in free beer

Yep, and you are damn right S., but there are of course good things about SG parties, as righteously suggested. I, for instance, remember one cj party when my friend and i fixed what had been deteriorating towards a blooded hatred (I may be exaggerating here a little). so, there are good things about cj parties. also, one can also choose to pay extra for the beer they get at cj parties, and start a civic disobedience against misuse of university resources. i have mentioned transparency in some other post, but the guy/lady called I. seemed to have failed to grasp the idea. I think you tackle the issue here in a rather subtle manner. Please, tell I. to read the op-ed. And, btw, if the students senators did have office hours, i think this would have helped their constituents ask their legitimate questions. Eh?
Submitted by Anonymous on February 21, 2009 - 20:43.